Corporal John Galbraith

Corporal John Galbraith, 1st/4th (Border) Battalion, Kings Own Scottish Borderers. He was killed in action at Gallipoli on 12th July 1915 during the “Charge” on the Turkish trenches at Achi Baba Nullah, aged 19. He was born in Swinton and was the son of Constable Alexander and Janet Galbraith of Leitholm Police Station and Gordon and is commemorated on the Helles Memorial, Helles, Gallipoli, Turkey. He had lived in Coldstream and was employed as a plumber with G.C. Rutherford & Sons. He was also a member of the Territorial K.O.S.B. and was mobilised with the Battalion in August 1914 going to Gallipoli in June 1915. That fateful day became known as the “Black Day of the Borders” as at evening roll call only 70 unwounded men answered out of the over 700 Officers and Other Ranks who had begun the attack. The first photo shows Achi Baba, the objective, marked with a cross. This “hill” dominated the battlefield and was never captured. The second shows the Borderers going into action and the third shows the battlefield in 1922. (He is also commemorated on the Coldstream War Memorial).

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